Jose Sanjurjo

Jose Sanjurjo (28 March 1872-20 July 1936) was a General of the Spanish Army who led a failed 1932 coup against the Frente Popular government of Spain that led to the Spanish Civil War. He died in an air crash in 1936 shortly after the start of the civil war, so Francisco Franco became the leader of Nationalist Spain instead of Sanjurjo.

Biography
Jose Sanjurjo was born on 28 March 1872 in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. He served in the Cuban War of Independence, the Second Melillan Campaign, and the Rif War, and he rose in the ranks of the Spanish Army. When Prime Minister Miguel Primo de Rivera resigned in 1930 due to opposition and King Alfonso XIII of Spain nominated Damaso Berenguer to succeed him, Sanjurjo was angered, as he felt that he was better-qualified to lead the country. He retained his military titles under Prime Minister Manuel Azana and Republican Spain, and in 1932 he led the Sanjurjada coup against the government. The uprising succeeded in Seville but failed in Madrid, and Sanjurjo was captured before he could flee to Portugal. In 1936, he was freed after the Falange party's revolution against the Frente Popular coalition government, but on 20 July 1936 he died in a plane crash due to putting too much luggage in his plane. The pilot warned him that the luggage was too heavy, but Sanjurjo said that he needed to dress nicely to become the new caudillo of Spain. The plane crashed in Estoril, Portugal, killing Sanjurjo and the pilot.